Ravello to Amalfi 🎼

We started our day today in the beautiful peaceful town of Ravello. Unlike the other popular towns on the Amalfi coast Ravello is high up on the mountain overlooking the sea. Quiet because they don’t allow large tour buses so on a Sunday morning it was very peaceful. We had made an appointment with a local guide to take us on a guided tour of the church on the main square - Saint John the Apostle of the Toro, and then the Villa Rufalo right next door. Her name was Philomena and she was great. We spent most of the time at the villa but the church was simple and had amazing mosaics.

The Villa Rufalo was built in the 14th century by a wealthy merchant. Then like many of the palaces and large villas went through challenging times. It had fallen into disrepair until the 1800’s when purchased by a man from Scotland. He restored the amazing villa and lived there for 40 years. What made it so famous is that the man from Scotland was a friend of the German composer Richard Wagner who came to visit and fell in love with the villa but even more with the amazing gardens. He was so inspired by the gardens he composed a famous opera there and I can’t for the life of me tell you which one. I’m not an opera fan but still very cool. Now Ravello is well known for the Ravello Music Festival which takes place at the villa every year for two months - July and August. And even more impressive is that they build a stage out over the terraces under the gardens so it hangs out over the sea. Top symphonies from around the world play there for it and if it sounds like you might be interested in seeing a performance you will need to already start thinking about planning for 2026. Only 300 seats for each show so tickets go fast.

The flowers in the garden were just planted a few days ago so not in full bloom yet - but still beautiful. Bottom left picture is where the stage is built over the roofs you see.

You see these Stone Pine trees all over the Amalfi Coast. They are often called Umbrella Pines and that’s exactly what they look like to me.

A sweet street in Ravello.

Time to start the hike. And sadly our streak of perfect weather has run out. It started to sprinkle a bit and continued lightly throughout most of the rest of the day. But we had rain jackets and it didn’t stop our plans. Plus we need to get down to the town of Amalfi and our feet are pretty much the only way. The views were still pretty but sadly the photos aren’t that great.

Lots of stairs going down for the most part but we did detour to make a climb to a scenic spot. This is the town of Atrani where scenes from the Netflix series Ripley were filmed.

Back to the stairs!

We stopped for lunch in a small village called Pontone. Was like something you might picture in the movie Under The Tuscan Sun, except that it was raining😂 We ate at a long table under a canopy with an old concrete wall with pots of geraniums attached to the wall. We ordered sandwiches or bruschetta and the sandwiches came in one size. BIG!

On to Amalfi! Still raining so a little extra caution on all the stone steps going down. We had been to Amalfi briefly a previous day knowing we would have some free time there today so had scoped out where we wanted to spend our time. First stop was the beautiful church of St Andrew. Quite a complex with a cloister, museum, crypt and then the cathedral. Baroque and Romanesque style. So much to take in but really beautiful. This picture was taken on our previous visit when the sky was so blue!

Then a bit of shopping. Amalfi is known for still hand making paper and there are a couple of stores that sell beautiful journals, notebooks, prints etc. Keeley was interested in getting a journal so she found one she liked at this shop and the man who helped us actually makes the covers by hand and designs them.

He put her initial on it too😊

We got a big kick out of seeing all the clearly tourists who purchased rain ponchos and coats with the lemons! So tempting to bring a few home.

Back to Maiori on a boat - my new favorite way to commute. A lovely dinner of rigatoni bolognese but smelled too good for me to be patient enough to take a picture. In spite of the rain another great day🤗

The Lemon Trail🍋

Another great day and couldn’t have asked for more perfect weather. We hiked the Lemon Trail which is Maiori to Minori or vice versa. We are staying in Maiori (highly recommend!) which is larger then Minori but both right on the water. The lemons they grow here are different than the ones in Sorrento - who knew? We hiked up a ton of stairs and then walked along the mountain sometimes up and sometimes a bit down but always great views of the water and the terraces where the lemons grow.

There are a number of places you can stop along the way for a lemon tasting and we had an appointment at one of them. A family business for 5 generations and still many of the original trees! We learned a lot about the lemons specific to that area and what makes them so special. They were originally planted there to maintain the mountain and so really conservation of the area. They can be very large and since they use no preservatives you can consume the entire fruit - even the peel. (Don’t try this at home folks! Not the same lemons!) We tasted lemon salad which is slices of lemon salted with olive oil. Delicious! Lemonade with no sugar so very tart. Then after going into the orchard we had lemon marmalade and lemon cello- from tart to sweet.

Lemon trees are very fragile so they build pagodas over them to protect them. The bitter orange tree is very sturdy so to preserve the trees for generations they graft the orange tree to the lemon tree. This tree decided to produce lemons and oranges. Nothing wrong with that in my book. We can learn from nature. Just do you🩷I have a new appreciation for lemons but have always loved the flavor.

I like capers but never really thought about where they came from. They are difficult to grow and mainly grow wild out of places like stone walls. Actually such a pretty plant.

We continue our hike to Minori. The final descent was another 400 steps - no problem.

This is such a perfect climate for so many great fruits and vegetables. They look so beautiful and smell wonderful.

One more stop before lunch to visit the Villa Romana which was discovered in the early 1930’s when they were excavating to build a building. A large villa built in the 1st century AD. More to see than the one we visited in Capri. Interesting to tour it and see the ingenuity of people from so long ago. Still some evidence of the original paintings on the walls.

Off for another fantastic lunch at la Botte. First coarse fantastic grilled vegetables. The walls were covered in beautiful watercolors all painted by the owner.

Main course fusilli pasta in a light seafood sauce with clams and mussels. Best mussels I’ve ever had. This platter was for 4 of us but we couldn’t come close to finishing it. And I would like to say dessert was offered and for the first time maybe ever I passed. Yes it’s the truth! But it all looked fantastic. I’m saving room for gelato later. Such restraint for me.

A unique shrine along the walk.

We had a couple of options to get back to Maiori but Keeley and I and Louise decided to walk back on the Lemon Trail so up the stairs and along the path. Too beautiful to not see it twice.

The Amalfi coast has very few actual beach areas and what they do have tend to be very tiny. Maiori and Minori have actual beaches the largest being in Maiori, so when we got back we decided to spend some time there. The sand is black and somewhat rocky but so pretty.

Dinner was on our own so we ate under the lemon trees at Pinete 1903. Keeley and I had salads and shared a delicious pesto pasta with zucchini and tuna for Louise. Gelato for dessert!

We still have a few more days of this wonderful trip. More to come!

Bomerano to Positano🌸

The hike today took the lions share of the day but it was high up along the coast line with gorgeous views every minute. We drove to the small village of Bomerano and for the first time saw a fairly large amount of hikers gathering so clearly a popular hike. I can understand why. The end result takes you right onto the Path of the Gods into Positano - a very beautiful town on the Amalfi coast. I would classify the hike as moderate. Definitely a trail with plenty of rocky parts climbing up and climbing down. We had to get pretty high up the mountain in order to walk around the edge and get to Positano. We saw quite a few farms I guess you would call them but literally tiered into the mountain.

The official sign which I’m told says Welcome to the Path of the Gods.

There is still some utilization of donkeys and mules to transport things between the small villages up in the mountains and sure enough we saw them. Actually we smelled them before we saw them😂

This is where the shepherd lives that takes care of them it appears. Built right into the rocky mountain.

The trail was very close to the edge much of the time. At this spot we could see Capri where we were yesterday. I climbed up on the ledge to get a good view.

Then I looked down. Sheer rock!

Let’s keep going. Positano awaits!

We get our first good view of Positano buts it’s going to take us awhile to get there.

The group continues. We are heading to lunch. First we go down.

Then we go up!

Another defibrillator just in case. So far we all remain good.

We stopped for lunch in a small village at restaurant called Santa Croce. Wow! A fantastic lunch and this was our view.

Fantastic food. Our first course was the cheeses and grilled veggies. Meatballs and roasted rosemary potatoes second course. A tart they called an Easter tart that had a ricotta and orange peel filling for dessert. I could only eat one meatball and it kind of broke my heart to leave the other one behind.

They brought the whole tart to Louise and told her it was her portion😂 I think Louise is thinking challenge accepted!

So many beautiful flowers everywhere.

We are getting close!

We see you Positano!

Now the stairs down. One of the men in our group attempted to count them but gave up at 1600! Not kidding! Totally worth it🥰

Positano is a beautiful town not as large as Sorrento. In terms of fancy I would say Capri the fanciest, then Positano then Sorrento. All very crowded so fun to see and walk around a bit but better to stay in a less crowded town. But it totally depends on what you enjoy. Sitting in a fancy cafe sipping an aperol spritz and people watching is great too so just do you. We had a bit of time to walk around, get a gelato etc. before meeting up to take our boat to our new hotel in Maiori.

Such a fantastic day. I feel so fortunate to be doing this with my best girl. Our guides are fantastic and the other people in the group so nice and in some cases hysterically funny. (I mean you Louise!😂) And what better way to get around than on a boat!

Capri🩵🩵🩵

Wow Capri did not disappoint. I have heard so much about it over the years and luckily the weather was perfect today to make our trip there for the day. Did I mention the traffic is crazy here on the Amalfi coast? Well it seems everyone was trying to get to Capri today but apparently that’s just how it is all the time May to October with increased crowds in the summer. It took almost an hour to get to Sorrento and then a massive amount of people getting on various boats and ferries to Capri. We had tickets for a hydrofoil which was a bit bumpy but got us there in about 30 minutes. That’s our boat behind Keeley.

Capri is glitzy so normal taxis just won’t do. This is what we rode in from the marina to the town square.

Automobiles, vans, small trucks etc. are only allowed around town and not in the town. Capri is super hilly so lots of stairs and no getting around that. The taxis get you at least part of the way up but then you’re on foot. The square is beautiful and there are many expensive shops and restaurants. Our goal was mainly to hike and see how truly beautiful the island is so we headed up to the Villa Jovis first. One for the amazing view, and two to see the famous ruins from the emperor Tiberius in 26-37 AD. Yesterday we saw the wild horses and today we saw wild goats. Did you know Capri means goat in Italian? Now you do!

The Villa Jovis at this point is mainly ruins, but you can pick out some of the spaces and see original brickwork and mosaic floors.

You can go a bit higher to a church and have a spectacular view of all the boats heading to Capri along with Mt Vesuvius and all the way to Naples.

As we were heading down and to our restaurant for lunch we could see amazing villas with gorgeous manicured gardens, lemon trees and beautiful flowers.

The restaurant was in such a gorgeous setting away from the square which is so crowded, built actually into the rock itself with an outdoor seating literally suspended in the air. And we were sitting at the best possible table for a fantastic view. It was my favorite meal so far of the trip. Eggplant Parmesan first course, roasted chicken with rosemary and potatoes for second coarse and a lemon pie for dessert. Magnificent!

My favorite traveling companion🩷

After lunch we took this challenging hike down more stairs than I could count and through some natural caves that monks lived in for years. If you look closely you can still see some of the drawings inside the caves.

So many stairs in fact that they actually had a defibrillator in case it was needed right on the trail! Thankfully we all did fine.

Everywhere you looked was so beautiful!

You don’t want to miss seeing the three famous rocks that are always in the pictures of Capri. They are called the Faraglioni Rocks and small boats take people through the opening I’m sure for a significant cost.

We ended up heading back to the main square and walking through a street of all designer stores. The Rodeo Drive of Capri.

Also some amazing hotels.

Good bye Capri! We had a fantastic time and it’s definitely worth a trip if you’re on the Amalfi coast.

Tomorrow we do the Path of the Gods. Fingers crossed the weather is pleasant and no rain🤞🏻Thanks for coming along🤗

Monte Faito

Today’s hike was up to Monte Faito where we were planning to hike around the upper trail with fantastic views of Sorrento and Mt Vesuvius. We drove up so many switchbacks and around curves where we were almost hanging off the side of the mountain. The driver did a great job honking his horn before approaching every blind curve as the road was pretty much one lane. So glad to have a driver! The views started out great.

But then some clouds rolled in off the water and our views were like this!

But on the bright side it never rained and the trail was so pretty. Not as rocky as yesterday and I never expected to see huge trees and a forest on the mountains above the coast here.

This area of trees is over 400 years old and big enough for Keeley to get inside. 😊

We hiked up to a church honoring St Michael the Archangel that had this beautiful statue with the two patron saints of the area.

While we didn’t get the views today we did get to see a few of the wild horses that live in the area and I have always been fascinated by wild horses so that was a bonus. They appeared to be bewildered by the clouds as well.

We had a late lunch up on the mountain at The Hotel Sant Angelo that was fantastic. A charcuterie plate for two, bruschetta with the most delicious tomatoes, Rigatoni Alla Genovese (the specialty of the area that we had in Naples that was so delicious) and tiramisu for dessert. Now that’s a lunch!

When we got back to Vico Keeley and I took a walk down to the local beach. Where they have beaches they are quite small compared to what we have in the US, but so pretty to look back at the towns from the water and see them perched what appears to be quite precariously on the cliffs. Oh and it was a mere 250 stone steps to get to the beach! That’s 250 down and then 250 up.

Back at our hotel we had a lovely aperitvo on the patio at our hotel that came with a bowl of these little crackers we see here - kind of like a small breadstick with a much better flavor. We are going to research and find some to bring back with us.

Dinner on our own tonight and after such a big lunch went didn’t want too much. Found this cute restaurant and shared some grilled veggies and a margarita pizza and lemon sorbet for dessert. We learned from our guides that a pizza here is meant for one person and not to be shared. Oops! Half a pizza is the perfect amount for us!

Such a great day. Tomorrow we are off to Capri! Arrivederci🤗